1/ Trump, Greenland, Venezuela, Canada A worst-case scenario thread.

From the end of October. A US Senator and former CIA officer... "We are about 2 weeks away from a bloody incident that spirals out of control... And this is just the kind of incident that Trump wants to justify more force coming in. " www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnUO...

It’s a dark night when you look at the news and are forced to admit that you no longer believe in the power of the FIFA peace prize

Oh Look! A Christmas gift from Reform UK. Was delivered by post so it looks like the overseas money has arrived. Its going to be a long 4 months to the Scottish Elections.

Word for the day: Fiscal dominance.

Trump is looking to invade Venezuela... ...to reduce Canada's leverage. Trump is trying to get Russian rehabilitated... to buy their oil... ...to reduce Canada's leverage. All a bit grim. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgwn...

Persuasive letter on populism as a cognitive short-cut in the @financialtimes.com

I liked this story more than most people on my timeline. The reasons I liked it are mostly to do with how it shows that much of the UK state exercises a purely notional control over anything. Trading Standards? Pfft. Companies House? Don't make me laugh. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The UK's financial / government problems (as seen from outside)... TLDR: We don't make/do stuff other people want to pay for. Except financial services to the very rich. Which warps national policy. This ensures we don't make/do stuff other people want to pay for. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKs0...

24 Minutes in another world... www.youtube.com/watch?v=m81K...

"If you want to know what life's like when your not the apex intelligence: ask a chicken." Would be amusing if it wasn't coming from last year's Nobel prize winner (and AI pioneer). www.youtube.com/watch?v=giT0...

My personal opinion is this is at least partly fuelled by a fundamental error in the approach in the counter-disinformation on focusing on foreign actors rather than treating information disorder as a societal issue. An extensive piece on that to come.